


Asserting Dominance

by cryogirl



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Community Leader Rhett, Fluff, M/M, Power Dynamics, Probably Crack, That turned serious, This is weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:47:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23891821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryogirl/pseuds/cryogirl
Summary: Rhett is the leader of his own post-apocalyptic collective, just like he always planned. Link is his long-suffering husband.****Not much plot to be honest, just an excuse to let Rhett be the chief in the apocalypse  he apparently wants to be.
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 9
Kudos: 37





	Asserting Dominance

**Author's Note:**

> Please be gentle on this little thing. :)

  
Rhett had been right all along. 

The apocalypse had happened, and what had seemed impossible to most (though not entirely unexpected to those who had been aware of all the damage the human kind had done to Mother Earth) had arisen.

Most of the country’s population was dead; only about 5% were left to wander the deserted landscape, fighting each other for food and shelter.

It hadn’t taken them long to turn to each other. Rhett was the only one left of the people Link had loved; and vice versa. It was only natural that they held onto each other in every possible way, especially now that all the circumstances and restrictions which may have had stopped them from becoming something more before had vanished over night.

It was almost funny, the way that Rhett had put all these plans into action that Link had always laughed off, assuming that if the apocalypse really came, his dorky, soft friend would be one of the first to hole up somewhere and bemoan the lack of proper food. But no, Rhett had been strong, he’d had a strategy and he’d protected Link the best he could. Of course he wasn’t called ‘Cryodread’ and, to Link’s immeasurable relief his friend hadn’t taken to wearing pig’s carcasses; however Rhett had gathered people around them, they had formed a collective and naturally Rhett had taken the leadership over their new community.

  
Rhett had changed. Nobody was the same as before, it simply wasn’t possible to maintain your old beliefs and behaviours under these circumstances. Taking on a new personality was what he had been forced to do in order to keep Link and himself alive. Sometimes though Link had to remind his husband to cut the alpha crap when they were alone together. Link didn’t want the Chief to sleep with him and hold him at night, he wanted his sweet friend Rhett to do those things.

So whenever Rhett stepped into their home, built by himself as the first permanent building in the collective, his whole demeanour changed drastically. His shoulders dropped, his knitted eyebrows relaxed and his lips curled up into the smile that these days only Link was allowed to see. In the world before, Rhett had often tried to reduce his height by slouching, feeling like he would scare people otherwise. Now he used every inch of his body to intimidate, to dominate. 

Link had changed as well, though it wasn’t so much that he had altered his character, he rather dropped his trained masculine manner and let character traits run free that he’d tried to suppress before The Break. Gender roles were… blurry, now that survival and the continuation of mankind had become their small society’s top priorities.

Link was defined by his status as the chief’s consort from now on, it didn’t matter if he behaved manly or strong anymore; Link had started to let his voice slip into a high pitch when it wanted. He swayed his hips the way he had always liked, a walk much too girly for a proper Southern man. The South was gone, no bullies to tell Link his clothes were too feminine.

The Church was gone, no priest to tell anyone that Rhett as the collective’s role model should be with a female.

Their village was so much bigger than in the beginning. In the few months since they had founded the community together with a handful of other survivors the initial makeshift huts had turned into steady houses, and new building sites had developed since they had new people asking for refuge at least once a week. The rules for the newcomers were simple: contribute to the community, respect the peace inside of the fences and, most importantly, accept Rhett as the leader.

Whoever challenged Rhett’s position was sent out into the desert again. It had happened twice, and both times Rhett had cried the night after, because sending someone back was essentially the same as shooting them in the head. No matter how harsh he acted, the well-being of those who had chosen to follow him was his upmost priority, after caring for Link of course.

Link felt the gaze of the other inhabitants on him as he walked from the well to his and Rhett’s house, the weight of the full water can making his step unsteady. He met their eyes and nodded to some of them. Rhett had told him not to smile at anyone, to maintain his superiority by keeping a neutral distance. Link thought it was stupid. He was the chief’s husband. Everyone knew better than to get too close to him, afraid to make Rhett angry by touching what was his.

“Hey, Nell!” Link grinned at a tiny woman who was working on one of the collective’s small agriculture patches where they had cultivated vegetables for a couple of weeks. Nell was one of the lucky women who had arrived with children and husband; she was a nice girl and Link considered her a friend. It was his job to make sure that the women and children were safe and happy, and as a mother of four Nell was a great help for Link.

“Hello, Link! How are you?” She asked, straightening her body and pushing a few loose hairs back from her forehead. Her kids, two little girls and two toddlers, were gathered around her, hugging her knees and smiling up at Link through missing teeth. They had all been dehydrated and sick when they had come to the collective’s gate, and the traces of the horrors they had lived through were still visible on their faces.

“I’m fine, thanks. I think the well is clogged though, it was almost dry when I got my water.”

“I guess Dean could have a look at it. You should ask him.” Dean had been a plumber before The Break. Their groundwater well had been built before he’d arrived, so it was probably a good idea to let him check on it.

Link hesitated. “Yeah… Could you do that for me?” 

There were only two things out of the many silly plans Rhett had come up with when the apocalypse had still only been a joke that he really stuck to. The first one was the big knife/multi-tool which had saved him a handful of times so far and that he always wore tied to his belt for everyone to see. The second thing Rhett did was to ‘assert his dominance’. Link had always found that concept particularly ridiculous, however he had to admit that it had worked well so far. There were many ways to assert one’s dominance, carrying a weapon, shouting at people, making claims over what was yours.

For this reason, none of the men who lived in the collective were allowed to talk to their leader’s husband. Link could talk to _them_ , of course, but they preferred not to since being talked at was easily confused with talking to, and nobody wanted to find out what the punishment for that would be. Rhett didn’t _own_ Link, as he had assured him many times, but Link _belonged to_ him. So, every time Link wanted one of the men to do something for him, he had to ask a woman to be his messenger.

Nell gave Link a sympathetic look. Some of the women— especially those who hadn’t been there in the beginning before Rhett and Link had developed their little dominance charade— were convinced that Rhett was patronising Link and keeping his partner on a short leash. They sometimes asked in hushed voices wether Link was hurt in any way, expecting the leader to be a rough with him as he was with everyone else.

“Of course, no problem” Nell said and Link waved one last time and continued his way home, passing clay huts and the half-finished building that would serve as an infirmary.  
Their house was bigger than most of the other buildings in the collective, and it held many valuable objects from before The Break. There was an actual bed, ceramic dishes and a number of technical knick-knacks that didn’t work unless someone would manage to restore the battered generator they had found a while back.

A logo sticker, placed on the wall over their bed, was the only thing left of their old life.

Link pushed the door open and found Rhett in the main room, leaning over the new dining table and fiddling with something Link didn’t see. He wore the headgear which marked him out as the chief; a big hat with feathers attached to it. It reminded Link of the wig they had used for Rhett’s Damnyell appearances and it made him giggle every time he saw it. It seemed to impress everyone else.

“Hey, big leader.” Link put the water can down and stretched his sore back. Rhett turned around and smiled. “Hi babe.” He frowned at the can. “Did you get water again? I told you to ask one of the boys to do that, or wait ‘til I got time. It’s way too heavy for you.”

Link groaned. “Rhett, I’m not a delicate flower, okay? I’m your little husband and all that shit outside, but I’m still a grown man who can carry fifty pounds of water across the village.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry.”

Link reached up and removed the hat from Rhett’s head. “Here, let’s get rid of that thing for now. You gotta relax a bit, man.”

Rhett sighed when the heavy accessory was lifted off of him. He put his hands on Link’s shoulders and smiled again. “I got something for you.”  
He picked up the object he’d been looking at earlier and Link realised that it was-

“A tape player!” Link gasped. It was rare to find an intact piece of technology these days, especially one that had already been out of fashion before The Break. 

“Brian gave it to me for helping him with his latrine. It works with batteries, I got hold of some.” Rhett adjusted the cassette inside of the device and flicked the power button. “Would you dance with me, mister?” he asked, offering his hand to Link who grinned and took it. Link laughed out loud when the tinny sounds of the Carpenter’s _Mr Postman_ started to ring out. Not his first choice of music. Rhett bowed his head and whispered into his ear: “I’m afraid it’s a ‘best of the 70’s’.” 

Link didn’t mind; any or no song at all was enough when Rhett had his arms around his waist and swayed him softly. His Rhett, not Chief Rhett.

They hadn’t danced at their wedding, if that day even deserved that name. It had been more of a ceremony, officiated by one of the guys who’d founded the collective with them, and all they had done was to exchange vows before Rhett had slipped a ring on Link’s finger which he’d traded for his last meal the week before. It was a simple silver band with a number of big scratches along the outside, but the fact that Rhett had starved himself to give it to him made it the most precious thing he owned. 

The song ended and another melody started, slower than the last one. Rhett gave him a long kiss and walked backwards with the other one on his arms until his knees hid the edge of their bed and he pulled the both down onto the mattress. 

Link pressed his warm skin into Rhett’s neck and asked: “Could we do it sweet tonight?” 

They usually fucked rough and noisy, often in the middle of the day with the windows open to let the collective know how virile their leader was. Link liked it that way. Wanted to be claimed. He was the alpha’s partner, protected and respected. Now though he wanted something soft, something to remind him how much Rhett cared for him beneath the layers of control and protectiveness.

“Of course, lovely.” Rhett pressed small kisses all over his body, he whispered into Link’s ear and took his time opening him up and sliding into him. They kissed softly while they came together and Link almost cried when he saw the adoration on his lover’s face afterwards.

“Do you ever think of how it used to be?” he asked later, voice muffled by Rhett’s chest hair. Rhett sighed and stroked his face. “Yes. No. Subconsciously, I guess. Sometimes… sometimes when I’m looking at the vegetable patches, I dream of a Burger King special.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“I know, babe. I mean— of course I think of before, all the freaking time. I wanna be able to drop the dominance act, I wanna be nice to people for a change and I want a mall to get some comfy clothes for a change. But that’s all gone, so…”

Link nuzzled Rhett’s skin, happy that the other one was sharing his thoughts with him. “What would you give to be able to go back, to prevent it?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, I wouldn’t go back” Rhett said casually, fingers still on Link’s head.

“What?”

“I don’t want to go back to how things were.” Rhett’s voice was firm, showing that he meant his words.

“But, but our life, our houses, your stupid special deals at fast food places?”

“Link, before… before we were just friends. Always scared to do the wrong thing by loving each other, we would’ve never been together like this. It might’ve cost us the entire world to finally find each other, but I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Not for a house, not for a special deal.”

Link was speechless. He knew that Rhett loved him, but this? All the pain, the fear and the nightmares of the last months, all the wealth and comfort they’d lost. Apparently Rhett didn’t care and Link realised that, lying there in his arms in their rough-and-ready house in the middle of burnt land— neither did he.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I’m new to tumblr so I’m still looking for someone to exchange ideas/opinions/stupid jokes with. If anyone would like to be beta-buddies or something, my tumblr is: @cryo-girl


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